Hoa Huynh (left), Romain Nervil (top) and Anne Gomez share a ping-pong table while they work at the PariSoma innovation loft in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Hoa Huynh (left), Romain Nervil (top) and Anne Gomez share a...

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Julian Nachtigal (left) works at the kitchen counter while his business partner Clement Alteresco carries his laptop while video conferencing at the PariSoma innovation loft in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Julian Nachtigal (left) works at the kitchen counter while his...

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Honey, the mascot dog, awakens from a nap while Clement Alteresco works on a couch at the PariSoma innovation loft in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Honey, the mascot dog, awakens from a nap while Clement Alteresco...

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Julian Nachtigal works on the kitchen counter at the PariSoma innovation loft in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, June 3, 2010.

In a second-story loft on Howard Street in San Francisco, a dozen or so entrepreneurs bend over laptops in a setting midway between a traditional office space and working out of a home or coffee shop.

The pariSoma Innovation loft is one of a growing number of "co-working" spaces that lets entrepreneurs and freelancers use tables, conference rooms and shared facilities such as Wi-Fi and videoconferencing on a pay-per-use basis, allowing tiny enterprises to project an image of bigness at lower cost.

Seated at one corner of a pingpong table that serves as a communal desk, Ray Pawulich said co-working suited his three-person Vid Network.

"I've worked in traditional offices and done the lone-wolf, coffee-shop thing, and this is the best of both worlds," said Pawulich, who started Vid Network with two fellow technologists from Indiana University near Bloomington, Ind.

In an economy where jobs are scarce, co-working taps into the trend of entrepreneurship-by-necessity that is a hallmark of the startup culture emerging from the Great Recession.

For instance, Vid Network is trying to popularize a platform for disseminating videos to mobile devices and other online destinations - capitalizing on production technologies and distribution channels that didn't exist even a few years ago.

In contrast with the plush startups of the dot-com era, today's entrepreneurs often work other jobs to support their passions. Vid Network's Kieren Farr, for example, was out driving a cab while partner Pawulich took care of business.

These co-working spaces - which follow similar models of selling memberships that entitle the user to so many hours of use per month - are stretching beyond the notion of frugality to create a sense of community meant to cultivate connections and ad hoc partnerships.

One of the boldest manifestations of this community-building effort is the Hub SoMa, a newly opened co-working space on Mission Street in the building owned by The Chronicle. Related to the Berkeley Hub that opened in October, the San Francisco space hopes to attract entrepreneurs whose business ideas combine social equity with environmental sustainability.

"We need a tribe, a change-maker's tribe," said Hub SoMa managing director Alex Michel in describing the overarching purpose of the shared work space.

Loosely affiliated with similar Hubs in more than 20 cities worldwide, the Bay Area locations join a global network that allows participants to share ideas and find collaborators around the world, Michel said.

"Our job at the Hub is to do everything possible to enhance the value of membership," he said.

San Francisco's Citizen Space, founded in 2006, is one of the first shared work places in what has become a worldwide phenomenon.

"I started here as a drop-in," said Jesse Taggert, a communications and design professional who now manages Citizen Space. She said she can tell when someone who has worked out of a home office joins the group.

"People come in here with glazed eyes from working alone too long," she said.

In expectation that the trend is on the upswing, Sandbox Suites, another co-working space in San Francisco, recently opened a branch in Berkeley.

"You have all these freelancers and independent people who choose co-working because they're lonely working alone," said Sasha Vasilyuk, co-owner of Sandbox Suites and a freelance writer herself.

Co-working

As more people freelance or start companies, more sites are offering shared space and facilities at a lower cost than leasing a traditional office.